Everything is so screwed up

difficult child was told by his school at an ARD meeting on 10-23-07 that "this was not the place for him". We came down hard on them at that ARD meeting saying that not enough had been done at that school before they moved him to another school in a Behavior Service Class. The BSC would be an environment where he would be with a group of 4-6 kids all day long in a classroom with a teacher and an assistant. They use the level system and the kids have to work there way through the levels and then gradually they are mainstreamed. Once fully mainstreamed, difficult child could go back to his homeschool. We take his T-doctor with us to every ARD and I can not tell you the stupid comments they made about my son. I mean that his emotional problems cause the behavior problems. They just kept focusing on the behavioral problems. We convinced them to revise his BIP and decided to have another ARD on 12-4-07 to re-evaluate his progress.

Fast forward to the next ARD. Of course the cruddy BIP was put in place but not as we or the t-doctor wanted them to do it. The teachers were never consistant and there were several times that we had to either take difficult child home or come pick him up from school. When we got to the ARD we found that the school had been documenting every little thing difficult child had done wrong during that 6 weeks. I wasn't even aware of half of the things that he did. I was floored when they called the Director of Special Education into the meeting along with the XISD prychiatrist that had sat in on the last ARD ( she agreed that more could be done before moving him to a BSC). We knew when we saw the director that we were up the creek without a paddle. They had even set up an ARD at the new school they wanted him to attend to "ARD him in"!

So FF to today when we were supposed to visit the new school BS class. We get there and they tell us that this class at this school was just for 1-3rd grades! They didn't know how there was a miscommunication but they would like us to visit the other school that has a BS class for 3-5th grades. So we go there and the school is horrible. It is in a horrible part of town and the kids seemed to have control over the class...not the teachers. They are really pushing us to keep difficult child with peers his own age but I just HATE the school. I like the other school but he would be with younger kids all day long.

I am so mad at XISD for all of the stuff they have put us through and now we have an impossible decision to make.

You do have rights. If you did not agree to a new placement, then the school must take you to due process to force it upon you. (Slightly different rules if they declare him a danger to others.) Ideally, your therapist could send a certified letter to the school stating that based on the information presented at the meeting on 12/4/2007 that the BIP was not followed and that staff contributed to young difficult child's issues at school by not following the BIP and include his/her recommendations. You could follow with a letter stating that upon their recommendation, you visited school XYZ and the BSC and do not agree with their recommendation for placement and call for the IEP/ARD team to reconvene to discuss additional options including proper implementation of the BIP and additional supports to make his current placement successful.

Under IDEA 2004, the school district can no longer take you to Due Process to force placement. HOWEVER, if you refuse placement, then your child is subject to normal discipline and likely will be suspended and then expelled. This is TX after all.

I think JJJ makes reasonable suggestions. Make sure everything is in writing and send all mail certified.

I certainly can't speak for WHERE your difficult child's new school is located, but my difficult child (12) was put into a social development class (in Houston) at the end of last year (5th) due to his behavior. I cried. Now fast forward to middle school this year and he's in a school district class there, too. He loves it and does NOT want to be mainstreamed!! He's in a class with five other boys, a male teacher and one female aide. He's getting one-on-one direction, attention, and his self-esteem has risen. We were reluctantly pushed into this decision, but it has been a wonderful step for our son. He's had only one reprimand which resulted in D-Hall since school started (in fifth grade he was in the principal's office two or three times a week!), and he made three A's and four B's on his report card. The more they talk about "mainstream" the more difficult child resists. Our psychiatrist said if he wasn't ready or WE didn't think he was ready, she'd write a medical letter to prevent it from happening.

My 2 cents (for what it's worth!) A special behavioral school was proposed (more like pushed in my throat) for my difficult child last spring. I learned 1) it's important to check and see what therapeutic services are really being provided there- ie, are they really doing anything to help this kid, 2) what kind of success rate do they have with students returning to mainstream, 3) does his therapist and psychiatrist and you feel it's right for him/her, 4) check into which diagnosis's the majority of kids there have- I found most of them here had severe ODD and apparently no one had spent much time finding else what else was going on with them. They think my son is bipolar- or at least unipolar depression with- adjustment issues and some anxiety (he's on a mood stabilizer)- and my ametuer research tells me the last place you send a kid with these issues is to an environment where sever behavior problems are the predominant issue.

It might benefit you (and difficult child) to do some research, document, and get therapist in the IEP meeting as an advocate. I'm not sure how the law is actually written- others here can help with that- but I simply refused to agree to it for my difficult child. I found another day school that specializes in mood disorders and has about an 80% success rate of kids (as compared to 20%) returning to mainstream, albeit they mostly still need spec. ed services and said the school district could pay for difficult child to go to that one if they it did turn out that mainstream wasn't the place for him right now.

Sorry for my soap box- I've just got a big grievence about some of these school district's and "public employees"!